


'Cause you're the only person in the world who'd understand

by Jennsepticeye



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, He comes back, M/M, Please heed the TW, Post-Season/Series 01, Reunions, Suicide Attempt, Temporary, Temporary Character Death, Vietnam War, and take care of yourselves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:54:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28408071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jennsepticeye/pseuds/Jennsepticeye
Summary: Klaus is sober now, which is like the worst kind of trip, because now he can hear the dead screaming at him all the time. Klaus has taken hallucinogens before, but those voices wore off, these don’t. These voices are constant and obnoxious and he hates them with a passion. He isn’t sleeping well either. He can’t sleep because the dead are always screaming, and when he does sleep his head is full of visions of Vietnam. One set of screams is traded out for another.Detailed TW are in the beginning notes.
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz
Comments: 2
Kudos: 58





	'Cause you're the only person in the world who'd understand

**Author's Note:**

> Detailed trigger warnings (spoilers)  
> Klaus commits suicide by drowning himself in the bathtub as a means to contact Dave, not out of a desire to die.  
> Klaus jokes afterwards that it was unpleasant and he would prefer to hang next time

They did it. The dysfunctional Umbrella Academy manages to get their shit together for long enough to stop the apocalypse. Klaus can just imagine the smug look on Reginald’s face in the afterlife.  _ Prick.  _ Turns out all they need to act like a family is some death and destruction.

Klaus is sober now, which is like the worst kind of trip, because now he can hear the dead screaming at him all the time. Klaus has taken hallucinogens before, but those voices wore off, these don’t. These voices are constant and obnoxious and he hates them with a passion. He isn’t sleeping well either. He can’t sleep because the dead are always screaming, and when he does sleep his head is full of visions of Vietnam. One set of screams is traded out for another. 

Manifesting Ben is great, because now they have more than each other and the family is so happy to see him, but someone is still missing.There's someone missing who fills the space by his right shoulder, the space behind him in bed. None of his family members realize anyone is missing, they never knew there was another person, but Klaus is drowning in that empty space.

He misses Dave.

It must show on his face because he can see Vanya, and Diego, and Five all giving him concerned looks and watching him out of the corner of their eyes. It’s irritating.

He tries to summon Dave, conjure him. Of course he does, but even stone cold sober he can’t do it. So he jumps to the next,  _ completely logical,  _ conclusion. If Dave won’t come to him, then Klaus is going to go to Dave. Ben is not a fan of this plan at all.

“At least tell someone, Klaus.” 

“I’m telling you, aren’t I?” Klaus says over the sound of the tub filling.

Ben just sighs. “Someone who can touch you, moron.”

~*~

Somewhat reluctantly Klaus ends up at Vanya’s door. Even with eleven spare rooms, somehow his sister ended up with a tiny closet instead of an actual bedroom. Just another example of why Reginald was a class A asshole. 

“Knock knock.” Klaus says, slouching in the doorway.

“Hey Klaus. What’s up?” Vanya smiles, looking up from whatever book she’s reading. She seems a lot happier off her meds, less apathetic.

“Ben says some alive needs to be there when I drown myself in the bathtub.” He says bluntly, for once not mincing his words.

Vanya’s smile vanishes. “What?”

Klaus rolls his eyes and sighs. He doesn’t want to explain because he knows she won’t approve of his plan. “So it turns out I can’t die because God doesn’t like me, but I need to find someone, and I haven’t been able to conjure him so…” Klaus trails off.

“So you though the next logical step would be to kill yourself?” She doesn’t look convinced.

“I promise it’s not as bad as it sounds. I died last week and incidentally found dad, which when God told me to my face that she hates me. Anyway, I’m no worse for wear. Please Vanya? I really need to see him.”

Vanya marks her page and sets the book down. “I suppose. You’re gonna do it anyway, so you may as well have help.”

“Have I ever told you you’re my favorite?”

~*~

Drowning is difficult. The last few times Klaus has died have all been pretty painless, be it overdosing or smashing his head on a concrete floor. Drowning is not painless. It’s painful and takes ages, just waiting to black out and feeling his lungs fill with water. Zero out of ten, not a recommended method.

Eventually his vision does go black and he finds himself standing in his boxers in front of God herself.

“I told you I don’t want you here.” She says.

“I need to find someone.” Klaus replies.

“This is not your place to come and go as you please, Klaus Hargreeves. There are rules.”

“Yeah, yeah. Where can I find Dave?”

“Your soldier boy? Why should I tell you?” She folds her arms, looking far more authoritative than a figure that young has any right to look. She’s really getting on Klaus’s last nerve.

“Because I’ll promise never to intentionally come back here if you do? And if you don’t tell me I’ll come back and bother you all the time. It’s no skin off my back.”

“You already know where he is, Klaus.” As if on cue, Klaus can suddenly hear the sounds of gunfire and God disappears. Klaus whips around. The jungle, once lush and dense, is sparse and ugly from agent orange, and the gunfire is just ahead. Klaus breaks into a sprint.

Phantom faces of soldiers, some he recognizes, crouch behind lines of sandbags, unloading ammo across the field. Dave, of course, is there with them. He’s not translucent like the rest of them, he’s solid and real, and covered in mud.

“Shit! Klaus, you good?” Dave says to the spot next to him, where Klaus would be.

Klaus crouches down, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Dave?”

All of the sudden Vietnam vanishes and they’re just standing in a normal forest. Grayscale but lush, there’s no more gunfire or explosions. It’s perfectly silent.

“Klaus? What are you doing here, sweetheart? Are those ducks on your boxers? Where are your clothes?” He laughs, holding Klaus’s face in his hands.

“I don’t have much time to explain ‘cause God doesn’t like me, but please come with me.”

“C’mon Hargreeves, you know I’d follow you anywhere.”

~*~

Klaus comes to hacking and coughing on the bathroom tiles. Vanya must have pulled him out of the tub. 

Ben isn’t in sight, but Vanya is clapping him on the back to help expel the water. After a few minutes he takes a shaking breath.

“That fucking sucked, I’m hanging myself next time.” Klaus says dryly.

“But did it work? Did you find him?”

“I’d say it worked.” A new voice says. Dave stands in the corner of the bathroom, dressed in his fatigues, but unharmed. There’s no wound in his chest, no mark of death like every other spirit bears.

Without stopping to think about corporeality or how exhausted he is, Klaus launches himself at Dave. Fortunately, he is solid, and he catches Klaus in his arms. Klaus can’t stop himself from kissing all over his lover’s face, muddy as it is. Klaus doesn’t care.

Dave is laughing, soft and breathy. It’s a beautiful sound and it makes Klaus’s chest feel light and warm to hear it again.

After a moment, Vanya clears her throat, catching their attention. “You going to introduce me to the guy you drowned for?”

“You did what?”

Klaus smiles sheepishly. “I just died for a few minutes, no big deal. Vany—”

Dave smacks him upside the head. “You’re an idiot.”

Klaus laughs. “Yeah… Anyway! Vanya, this is my boyfriend Dave. Dave, this is my baby sister, Vanya.”

“We’re the same age.” Vanya says indignantly.

“No, I’m ten months older now. Keep up.” He pokes Vanya on the nose, letting go of Dave but holding his hand. Finally that space at his right shoulder is filled again. It’s like a weight has been pulled from his chest.

Vanya groans. “You have so much explaining to do. Family meeting time.” She grabs Klaus’s free hand and starts to pull him out of the bathroom.

“Can I at least get some clothes?”

~*~

Klaus, thankfully fully clothed, ends up on one of the wildly uncomfortable sofas in the living room, surrounded on all sides by his dysfunctional family. Now that he’s sober he can make spirits corporeal, tangible, but it’s exhausting. The longest he’s kept Ben around was twenty minutes, at which point he fainted. So at the moment, neither Ben nor Dave are visible to anyone but him. Though pointedly, the sofa is empty on either side of Klaus.

The rest of the family is looking at him expectantly, and Vanya gives him a  _ ‘go on’  _ gesture. Klaus takes a deep breath.

“Alright, so right before the world ended, Five’s buddies Hazel and Cha-Cha kidnapped and tortured me. I told them I didn’t know anything, and that no one would notice that I was gone. I was right, of course.” Klaus laughs bitterly. “Anyway, Diego’s cop friend found me and I escaped through the air vents with their briefcase. I was going on three days sober and I figured I could pawn what was inside. Instead I ended up in 1968, landed my ass right in the middle of the Vietnam war. I was stuck for ten months fighting with the 173rd in the A Shau Valley.”

Allison has both hands over her mouth, eyes wide with surprise and worry. The rest of the family wears similar expressions except Five. Five doesn’t look surprised in the slightest, like he already knew. Actually, that would make sense.

“I probably wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for Dave. I was going through withdrawals in the middle of a warzone, and there were spirits everywhere, a fuck ton of them. Soldiers and VCs torn apart by mines or burned by Agent Orange. I wasn’t doing great. I mean, I wasn’t doing great here either, but ‘Nam was hell on Earth. I might have tried to leave sooner if it weren’t for Dave.”

“Who was Dave?” Luther interrupts, rather rudely. Klaus is getting to that part. Honestly, no one in this family appreciates a good story.

“He was a soldier. The reason I stayed was because I fell in love with him. Only I would fall in love with a guy after accidentally traveling to a time when it was still illegal. Anyway, he knew about all my weird shit, the spirits, dad locking me in the crypt, the drugs. He knew about all of it, and he liked me anyway.” Klaus shrugs. “He died, obviously.”

“That’s why you wanted to get sober, isn’t it?” Diego asks. “So you could conjure him.”

“Yeah, well, that wasn’t working. By the way, did you know that God hates my face so much that she won’t let me die? She literally kicked me out of the afterlife. Anywho! I’d like you all to meet my boyfriend, Dave.”

It takes a moment, but Dave does flicker into a corporeal form, a little translucent and glowing a pale blue. He grabs Klaus’s hand and squeezes.

“It’s nice to meet you all.”

Just minutes later, after everyone has been introduced, Klaus feels the exhaustion weighing on him. Conjuring on top of dying is starting to pull his eyelids shut and Dave’s form flickers. Klaus can see the confusion on his siblings’ faces as Dave disappears from their sight.

Gently Vanya herds him to his bedroom, Dave still standing at his shoulder. He doesn’t want to sleep, even as he settles onto his squeaky mattress. He’s terrified that when he wakes up it will all have been a hyper-realistic dream. He doesn’t want to sleep but Dave is perched next to him on the bed, leaning against the headboard, and Klaus’s eyes slide shut. He really hopes this isn’t all a dream. 

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Lemon Demon's "Touch-Tone Telephone"
> 
> Leave kudos and comments if you enjoyed. It's not my best work, but it's finished. That's another WIP down!
> 
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